Cisco Systems Inc, is one of biggest corporal venture capital arms of the world plans to spend at least ₹1,351.7 crore in startups in 2018. According to the sources, a major chunk of it will be primarily invested in India. Cisco has heavily in over 200 companies over the last two decades.

In an interview with Mint, Cisco’s head of mergers and acquisitions, and venture investments, Rob Salvagno said, “ I’m very bullish on India. I see our participation, going forward, only increasing. I think that’s reflective of where the market is going, and that’s also reflective of how Cisco is in a position to leverage that,” Salvagno said. “We think that there’s more opportunity for enterprise and B2B (business-to-business) plays in India.”

Cisco already has a well-structured base in India. Cisco’s relation with India goes back to its acquisition of AppDynamics which was founded by Indian-origin Silicon Valley entrepreneur Jyoti Bansal. Furthermore, Cisco already has its investments in 20 Indian companies as well as a few India-based VCs such as IDG Ventures and Stellaris Venture Partners.

Cisco Systems, Inc. is an American multinational technology conglomerate headquartered in San Jose, California, in the center of Silicon Valley. They also launched a startup accelerator in July 2016 called the Cisco Launchpad.
Many India-based tech startups focussing on the B2B/B2B2C segments were a part of this program.

Cisco recently backed eight early-stage nonprofits for a six-month incubation programme There were 713 applicants. Among the selected applicants, some belonged to the eminent IITs.

Cisco aggressive acquisition and investment strategy can be well summed up in Cisco’s head of mergers and acquisitions, Rob Salvagno’ own words: “Our innovation strategy intentionally involves outside innovation… We’ve been innovating well internally, but we also recognize that there is a lot of innovation happening outside the walls of Cisco.”

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